"Look Backwards" - Honda RA108

This season should have been a vast improvement for Honda after their disastrous 2007 campaign. However, against all odds, 2008 turned out nearly as bad for Honda. At least this season, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. The only way now is up.

Honda have now had two nothing seasons with no achievement, and zero return on the vast millions they have been spending. These two seasons are mainly down to previous shocking management.

The first bad call by Honda was sacking Geoff Willis in 2006. The next bad decision was deciding to build a brand new car in 2007, rather than continue to evolve the 2006 car and make use of its advantages. Had Geoff Willis stayed, he would have taken Honda down this route.

The 2007 car was too revolutionary, ambitious and had many problems. Its aero was very weak and the car was extremely unstable. Downforce was applied far too aggressively. Overall, it was 1.5-2.0 seconds off the front running pace.

The new Honda hit the track in testing, and the verdict wasn’t good. The stability was better (which wasn’t difficult in comparison to the 2007 car) but that was the only real positive.

Both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello probably got the surprise of their life. They discovered the RA108 was even slower than the RA107 relative to the other teams testing with them. In that first test, Honda were around three seconds off the front running pace. They completed just over 30 laps on that first initial test.

Australian GPButton DNF - incident at turn three Mark Webber, Anthony Davidson, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel came together, putting all four out of the race.Barrichello DSQ - disqualifed for passing a red light at the pit lane exit.

Malaysian GPButton 10thBarrichello 13th

Bahrain GPButton DNF - Coulthard and Button collided on lap 18 when Button attempted to pass the Red Bull on the inside at turn eight; the Honda lost its front wing and retired a lap later after two pit stops.Barrichello 11th

Spanish GPButton 6th - Button scored Honda's first points for the season.Barrichello DNF - Barrichello and Fisichella collided in the pit-lane on lap 26, heavily damaging the Honda's front wing, and requiring Barrichello to drive the whole lap with a disintegrating car, before retiring into his team's garage.

Turkish GPButton 11thBarrichello 14th

Monaco GPButton 11thBarrichello 6th

Canadian GPButton 11thBarrichello 7th

French GPButton DNF - Button was lapped by several drivers, due to the damage his car had sustained in his first corner incident with Bourdais, and eventually retired on lap 17Barrichello 14th

British GPButton DNF - spun off on lap 37Barrichello 3rd - finished in 3rd position for Honda's best finish of the 2008 season.

German GPButton 17th - Button was last of the classified finishersBarrichello DNF - Coulthard and Barrichello collided on the 48th lap with both cars pitting for repairs. Barrichello retired three laps later due to damage sustained as a result of the incident.

Hungarian GPButton 12thBarrichello 16th

European GPButton 13thBarrichello 16th - Barrichello and Sutil were forced to change their gearboxes; as a result, both drivers started from the pit lane.